Why do states have different Electoral College votes?

Why do states have different Electoral College votes?

Electoral votes are allocated among the States based on the Census. Every State is allocated a number of votes equal to the number of senators and representatives in its U.S. Congressional delegation—two votes for its senators in the U.S. Senate plus a number of votes equal to the number of its Congressional districts.

What happens if there aren’t enough Electoral College votes?

If no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes, the Presidential election leaves the Electoral College process and moves to Congress. The House of Representatives elects the President from the 3 Presidential candidates who received the most electoral votes.

Why does California have the most electoral vote?

There are a total of 538 electoral votes, and the number of votes each state receives is proportional to its size — the bigger the state’s population the more “votes” it gets. For California, this means we get 55 votes (2 senators and 53 members of the House of Representatives) — the most of any state.

What drives Americans’ opinions on abolishing the Electoral College?

That is, Americans’ opinions are increasingly driven by what would benefit their party. Amending the Constitution to abolish the Electoral College system in the U.S. requires support from two-thirds of both houses of Congress and three-quarters of the 50 states.

What is the Electoral College and why was it created?

The Founders set up the Electoral College for a few reasons: 1 1 To balance the interests of northern and southern states 2 To put a buffer between the people and electing the president; a chosen group of people would be able to object to the people’s vote 3 They believed that not all voters were informed enough to choose a leader

Should we get rid of the Electoral College?

Plus the old-school electoral system has its benefits. With the Electoral College, for example, there’s no chance of a run-off election or a protracted national recount. Columnist George Will shudders to think of what would have happened in the 1960 election if there had been no Electoral College.

Do Americans have an appetite for changing the electoral system?

Between 1967 and 1980, Gallup tracked the public’s appetite for changing the electoral system with a similarly worded question and found majorities of 58\% to 80\% approved of amending the Constitution to “do away with the Electoral College and base the election of a president on the total vote cast throughout the nation.”